The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-03-23
POPULAR SCIENCE.

It has been found that mines can be-
lighted by electricity for one-haf what
it cost to light them by the old system
of oil and candles. Besides there is in
electricity comparative immunity from
fire.
In British experiments last year cop
peras proved O valuable fertilizer for
many crops. An increase of 400 pounds
in the potato yield of an eighth of an
acre resulted from treatment with focr-
teen pounds of copperas. It gave as
good crop Of turnips as did gusno and
dissolved bones, and nearly doubled the
yield of field of hay. Good results
were also obtained with onions, beans,
and mangold-wurzel.
Sohneke states that the electricity
which is discharged during thunder
storm is produced by the friction Of
water and ice, that is. that the ice Is
electrified by friction of water. Just be-
fore thunderstorm water-clouds
(cumulD and ice-clouds (cirri cirrostratD
appear simultaneously in the sky. The
friction of these particles of ice and water
is sufficient cause of the electricity
which is generated. >..-s....-...
It would appear that gas will furnish
more light when employed to drive an
electric motor than when used directly IS
an illuminant. In paper read before
one of the London engineering societies
it was mentioned, as the result Of many
Investigations, that 1000 feet Of gas used
to produce incandescent electric lighting
by means of gas engine will give twice
as much light as if employed as an illu.
minaut in the ordinary way. =
The sun has an apparent motion
among the stars from west to east along
the circle called the Ecliptic. It
ial, the sun completing its revolution in
about twenty-five and half days; Sec
ond, a motion about the centre of grav-
ity of the whole solar system, which is,
however, al rays within the SUMS volume;
third, progressive motion in space to-
ward the constellation Hercules at the
rate of $4,000. 900 miles year.
Mr.. John Murray recently delivered be-
fore the Royal Society of Edinburg Q
lecture upon the total rainfall of the
globe and the relation it bears to the dis
charge of rivers. He shows that drainage
may belong to either inland or ocean
drainage, the area of the first being IT,.
4S6, $50 square miles and the latter 49,
329, $50 square miles, after deducting
those barren areas which have less than
ten inches of rainfall annually. The rain
precipitated annually upon the inland area
amounts to not less than 2,A3 cubic
miles, and that upon the ocean drainage
area not less than 6, $50 cubic miles. The
total weight of matter carried by this
means to the ocean is something more
than 5000, 600, 900 tons each year.
'sWhat is right (or left) handednessw
Dr.. Daniel Wilson, of Toronto, has en-.
deavored to demonstrate before the Royal
Society of Canada its cause. His con-
clusion is that left-handedness is due to
the extraordinary development OF the
right hemisphere of the brain, and vice.
versa. DR.. Wilson has studied this diff
cult matter from various standpoints,
and finally concludes as above. BE is
himself left-handed, and so confident is
he in his theory that he expressed in his
paper the desire that on his death his own
brain be examined "for further settling
this physiological puzzle. If my ideas
are correct I anticipate as result of its
examination that the right hemisphere
will not only be found to be heavier than
the left, but that it will probably be
marked by noticeable difference in the
number and arrangement of the convolu-
tione - = ..--